Lisa Coe said it was the least she could do to pay back the teacher who changed her daughter’s world “to something so incredibly positive.”

Erin Palonen, the Griswold special education teacher who worked with Coe’s daughter Katie for seven years, was announced Friday as one of 12 semifinalists in a national Top Teacher contest run by the “Live with Kelly and Michael” daytime talk show. Coe was the one who nominated her, in a letter posted on the show’s website.

The contest began with well over 1,000 nominations, which were whittled to the 12 semifinalists over the past few months, show spokeswoman Lauren McTague said. Audience members will vote on the 12 semifinalists before 5 p.m. Monday after reading their nomination letters on the show website. The top five vote-getters will be filmed in their schools for segments during the next two weeks and will travel to New York for live interviews. The top teacher will be announced the week of May 6, but the prizes have not been announced yet, McTague said. Last year’s winner, a special education teacher from New York, took home a brand new Ford Ranger and a $25,000 check for his school.

Palonen began teaching Katie, now 22, at Griswold High School in 2005, and taught her until she finished high school a year ago. Katie, who has a severe form of autism, blossomed with Erin’s help, Coe wrote in her letter nominating Palonen for the contest. Palonen started a speed skating Special Olympics team for her students in Katie’s first year of high school, a team that continues to compete today. Palonen brought in non-disabled students to volunteer with the team, and in doing so, Coe wrote, made kindness and acceptance ‘cool.’

“Because of Erin Palonen, (speed skating) is something that Katie will continue to do each year even though she is no longer in school. In a world that is very small for Katie in many ways, she now has a bedroom lined with eight ice skating trophies, and dozens of gold, silver and bronze medals,” Coe wrote.

Palonen, a 30-year-old Jewett City native, said she was so overwhelmed by the honor that she cried when she found out.

She said the principal called her to his office and turned on the television just before her name was announced Friday morning. The school district was notified Thursday of her nomination, and told to keep it a secret until the show aired on Friday.

“They were announcing the top teachers, and I said ‘no way,’ but there was my face,” Palonen said. “Someone took their time to do something to make my day. Even if it goes no further (in the selection process), I’m just so grateful someone did this for me.”

Griswold Middle School Interim Principal Paul Berkel said Palonen is very deserving of the award. She came to the middle school this year, looking to expand her horizons after several years at the high school. At the middle school, she has helped keep track of student performance data for an after-school reading and math tutoring program.

Page 2 of 2 - “She has done a tremendous job of keeping track of that (the data), and motivating the teachers and kids, too. She establishes a nice rapport with everybody,” Berkel said.